31 Hellish Halloween Tales (Tales 1-8) (Part One)

*This year’s roundup of Halloween tales! I will update this every day. You can also look at the stories individually on my wall. Gacha Club character designs are on my wall. You can find this and other Halloween tales under my folder “31 Halloween tales”. Enjoy and Happy Halloween! Mwahaha!*

Tale One-The “stilt-walker” clown

It was Halloween night in the town of Cherry Brook. The streets were alive with Trick-or-Treaters eager to earn their prize. Houses were decorated with grandiose Halloween decorations, each car more grander than the last. There were parties being held for the older children who weren’t quite ready to give up the holiday’s festivities yet.

But not all of these adolescents were attending parties. A good portion of them were headed towards the Cherry Brook Halloween Festival, full of skittering monsters and spine-chilling Haunted House attractions.

Among this group of teens were three girls named Annora, Alarica, and Aisling. Annora and Alarica had been to the Halloween Festival since they were thirteen. That year was Aisling’s first time going, at sixteen.

All three of them felt a burning excitement that could only come from the possibilities of Halloween. Would they be frightened? Would they have fun? No one knew!

Annora was driving a navy blue Honda pilot down the road, Alarica sitting next to her at the passenger seat, Aisling sitting in the back. All three were looking out for the glowing orange and black LED gates that would let them in to a world of spooks.

There was nothing…nothing…

“There it is!” Aisling said, pointing to the front car window.

The girls at the front of the car cheered when they saw the welcoming gates, with the glow bulb ghost sitting on the tippy-top.

……………………………………………………

“There are only two rules to this adventure: Number One: Stay close to us. This is a very big park and people get lost easily here. If you stay with us, everything will be fine. Number Two: Have fun! This is your first time here, we want you to enjoy yourself!” Annora said. They had driven through the gates and parked themselves in the parking lot.

Aisling nodded vigorously. She understood every word Annora was saying. She’d stay close and have fun. It wouldn’t be too hard, right?

The girls opened the car doors and stepped outside, breathing in the cool, crisp October air. Waiting for them was the Cherry Brook Halloween Festival, calling out to them, begging them to enter.

Aisling was more than ready.

……………………………………………………

Aisling was in awe of the entirety of the park. There were houses beckoned to be explored, food stands and restaurants covered in the hazy scent of greased food, and monsters of a wide variety. Aisling saw ghouls, witches, vampires, and…

And a clown on stilts.

He looked to be the same age as the girls, but Aisling couldn’t tell with the makeup and how high he was.

The clown waved at everyone, bending down once in a while to smile at the guests and gain a scream from him.

The girls only turned to each other and giggled. He was just like any other Halloween performer, what was there to be afraid of?

“Hi there!” Aisling said, waving up at him.

The clown whipped his head towards her voice and grinned, white teeth clashing with his purple lips.

Aisling smiled softly. It was nice to see people having fun on Halloween, even if it was only to strike fear.

Speaking of which, where were her friends? They were supposed to be with her, but all Aisling saw was crowds of people shoving past her, desperate for Hallowed fun.

“Annora! Alarica! Where are you?” Aisling called out.

No one seemed to notice her and if they did, it was just to give her a dirty look.

It wasn’t her fault that they were lost! Why did everyone look at her like she was trying to ruin everything? All she wanted was to have a spooktacular night with her friends, she didn’t want to lose them.

The monsters were prowling through the night, laughing and leering. For the first time in her life, Aisling didn’t feel connected to the monsters. She felt like they were mocking her. They could see the distress on her face, could they not? They knew that she was panicking, from how her eyes darted left and right, how she kept calling the names of her friends.

“I can help!”An insanely cheery, inappropriately optimistic, helium voice said behind her. Aisling jumped at the loudness of the voice before turning around.

It was the stilt-walker clown. Up close, she could see that he was around her age, as well as the details of his appearance.

His curly, almost girlish, highlighter blue hair framed a smooth, pale, thin face that had purple lipstick that outlined his lips like a heart and red snake eyes in rose pink rings, the markings going down his eyes matching. His nose and the dots on both sides of his cheeks were poinsettia red. He wore an orange and black jumpsuit with long sleeves that had white lace on the collars. His boots were high, black boots tied up in many strings.

He was beautiful, in an awful, interesting way.

“You can help me find my friends?” Aisling asked, trying her best not to stare.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Now come on, let’s go!” The clown said, turning around to lead the way.

Aisling looked around her. Not a single person seemed to notice her and the clown. They were all distracted by what the park had to offer, not caring for their fellow neighbors.

She shrugged and decided to follow the clown. Sure, every movie said to never follow clowns, especially when they were scary clowns, but she needed to find her friends. Besides, it was Halloween night. Lots of people were dressing up like scary clowns. It didn’t automatically mean that they were evil.

……………………………………………………

Aisling and the clown were far from the hustle and bustle of the park. They were in the forest that was teeming with trees that were only an inch over the clown’s head. Aisling trusted him enough until he took her to the forest, because how on Earth could her friends be there?

She turned around, about to make a run for it, but then the clown said:

“Stay right there.”

Aisling was burning, boiling with blood at the moment. He had the audacity to lie to her and tell her to stay right where she was? As if she was some obedient little girl?

“Why?!” Aisling asked hotly, turning her head around to face him. Out there were monsters, but at least they wouldn’t lead them to the woods.

“Your friends are lost in the forest. It sounds like a lie, I know, but it’s true. This is my third year here, so I don’t know if this has been going on since this place was created, but from what I’ve seen, people went missing. I didn’t find them until November first. I always found them dead, in this forest. If you follow me, we can save your friends.” The clown said.

“That’s a great campfire story, but in case you didn’t notice, I’m looking for my friends.” Aisling said through gritted teeth.

She turned around on her left heel, about to storm off, until:

“Wait!” The clown called out.

Aisling turned around on her left heel again, but only to face him.

“What?” Aisling asked with bite in her voice. If he was just going to waste her time again, then she’d run away as fast as she could.

“I’m not like the other monsters.” The clown said.

“Yes, of course you’re not, you’re a clown!”

“No, I mean I’m not like them.”

From the folds of his jumpsuit, the clown produced a magician’s black baton. He stretched it to the size of a cane. At the end was a sharp, silver blade, like that of a sicle.

The clown lifted the bottom of his right jumpsuit leg slightly with the sicle.

“These aren’t stilts that I’m wearing. This is my natural height.”

“That’s ridiculous…” Aisling said, but she still peered down just to be sure.

What his jumpsuit leg revealed weren’t wire black stilts, but a pale, thin ankle.

He released the sicle from the jumpsuit leg.

“I come here to have fun and to be accepted. Here, no one will think twice about my appearance, because I’m supposed to be unsightly. When the time is over, I come here, to live until next Halloween.”

“Now that you know what I am, do you trust that your friends are here?” The clown asked.

Aisling nodded. He was a literal monster clown, but he was offering to help. He told her the truth. She would find out for herself later if she was to live or die.

……………………………………………………

They had been walking for a while until they both stopped in front of an iridescent, web-like rope that was off the branch of a tree. As weak as the rope looked, it was wrapped around the waists of Annora and Alarica, somehow pulling them down into the Earth. No screams escaped from their mouths, for they were covered in the web-like substance.

Aisling was about to help them, but the clown pushed her aside.

“Stay back! It takes humans away!” The clown said, running towards the rope.

He looked as though he were struggling to untie them, that the rope was fighting against him. He gritted his sharp teeth as he worked through the knots, the girls dangling helplessly on the rope. Aisling bit back a cry, waiting anxiously for her friends to be free.

It only took a few seconds and the girls were freed from the rope, in the clown’s arms. The rope hung limply from the tree, a sweet snake.

He tore off the webs on their mouths, the sound akin to a band-aid being peeled off.

After that, the clown set them on the ground. The girls ran towards Aisling and hugged her.

“I…I don’t know what happened! One minute, we were with you and the next minute, we were being pulled to the ground by this…this…this really odd rope and-“

“It’s okay. We’re all together now, that’s what matters.” Aisling said, cutting off Alarica.

The clown, as frightening and questionable as could be, helped her find her friends. He saved their lives. Without him, she may have never seen them again.

“Thank you, um…”

“Candy Necklace. My name is Candy Necklace.”

Aisling giggled softly, for she couldn’t help herself. His name was Candy Necklace!

He didn’t seem to mind, though. He only beamed at her with his lovely white monster teeth.

“Well, thank you, Candy Necklace. I’m Aisling.” She said.

She didn’t know how to explain it, but she had a feeling that they would meet again.

Tale Two-The kindness of a mother

Many different walks of life grace the internet. There are those who bring positivity and those who bring negativity. There are artists and misogynists, children and adults, critics and those who admire.

Josefina was just a regular mother on the internet, with bright green eyes and sun-streaked ginger hair. She posted tips on how to be a better parent and had an insanely optimistic nature.

But Josefina never stood up in her videos and never showed her children, ever. This greatly annoyed many people who thought that they had a right to see a stranger’s child, but Josefina never cared much for the comments.

She only cared for the children who would check out her account at three in the morning to speak of their happiness and woes. She listened without any judgement and reassured them as best as she could.

There was one girl in particular that had her misfortunes. This girl was a young sixth grader named Dayna who was feeling quite lonely in school, as though she were turning into a monster with each passing day.

Josefina listened patiently to Dayna’s story, nodding her head and saying “It will all be okay, I promise”.

Dayna didn’t think that much would come of Josefina’s statement. She thought that Josefina sounded like any adult that wanted kids to calm down.

But boy, how wrong was she.

……………………………………………………

It was four o’ clock AM when Dayna logged off the internet. She didn’t know how, but something in her mind directed her to Josefina’s account at three AM. It was the strangest phenomenon, but Dayna didn’t think much about it. Perhaps she had seen Josefina’s account once and forgot about it until the right moment.

Dayna lay in bed, staring out the window. Like always, she couldn’t sleep. Her mind raced with thoughts of teachers giving her booklets of papers she didn’t understand and the stares of other students when she walked through the halls, tears in her eyes. Dayna didn’t mean to cry, the tears only came from being overwhelmed, greatly overwhelmed.

Something fell off her desk. Dayna shot up, completely alert.

There was nothing she could see from the thin sliver of moonlight in her room. Dayna slowly lowered herself back in bed…

“Don’t scream.” A good-natured, familiar voice said. A pale hand covered Dayna’s mouth.

The other hand turned Dayna’s face around, so they could see eye-to-eye. Dayna already knew who it was before the person turned her around.

Josefina smiled at her, as a proud mother would to her daughter. Up close, Dayna could see that Josefina had thin, hollow cheeks. Dayna’s gaze drifted down to Josefina’s legs…wait…she didn’t have any legs.

Josefina’s torso ended with an abrupt, bloody cut. Dayna tried to remove Josefina’s hand from her mouth, but she had a strong grip.

“I love you.” Josefina said.

Dayna kept trying to remove her hand, thinking: I’m going to die and no one will help me I’m going to die and no one will help me I’m going-

Josefina ripped off Dayna’s heart with a clawed, inhuman hand.

Tale Three-Little rotten dolly

Dolls are considered a thing of the past for quite a few young kids. Many would rather play video games or log into the internet when adults aren’t looking.

But there are also quite a few who still love dolls, who still love to play with them. Some of these kids care and love their dolls as a best friend, sibling, or parent would. Some of them throw them down the stairs and tear their heads off without a care in the world.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, because the children are just having fun and the dolls are just dolls, without any thoughts and feelings of their own.

That’s what Winter thought about her doll, Cremida Lynne. Cremida Lynne was a plastic doll, a blond beauty with sparkling blue eyes in a pale pink dress.

Until Winter dipped a cotton swab in alcohol and rubbed the paint off Cremida Lynne’s face. Not only that, but Cremida Lynne’s hair was haphazard, pointing in a million different directions. Her limbs were starfish-shocked, her body was covered in marker scribbles.

Cremida Lynne sat in a far corner of Winter’s room, unloved and rotted.

……………………………………………………

It was a bright Saturday morning when it happened. Winter was adding new scribbles to Cremida Lynne’s face, her door closed to keep out parents and boys. Cremida Lynne was as still as ever, until…wait…did she just twitch her legs?

Winter dropped the doll in surprise. No…dolls weren’t alive…they didn’t move…they

Cremida Lynne seemed to be growing taller by the seconds, more lifelike with each minute.

She was getting taller….taller….taller…

“Hello there, Winter!” Cremida Lynne said brightly.

Winter could only stare at her with wide, surprised eyes. Cremida Lynne had soft, human skin that was covered with jagged rainbow marks, as though her blood had discolored from poison. There was a spot on her face that looked as though it were breathing, like it was a mouth covered in a mask.

“Did you really think that I was just a doll?” Cremida Lynne asked, cocking her head slightly, streaks of blond hair falling from her head in clumps.

“I-I-I-“

“Don’t speak.” Cremida Lynne said, putting up an elongated hand to stop her. Winter had chewed on Cremida Lynne’s fingers when she first received the doll.

“We dolls have made a pact with humans centuries ago, before the 17th century. Back then, we were known as faeries.”

“You’re a faerie?” Winter asked. She couldn’t believe that the monstrosity before her was a real faerie.

Cremida Lynne sighed impatiently.

“I’m a type of faerie. There are different types of faeries. When times were difficult, my kind agreed to protect and be there for your kind in exchange that we receive friendship and love from you. That’s all we ever asked for.” Cremida Lynne said.

When Winter first got Cremida Lynne, she smelled of sweet lavender. That smell had faded away and was replaced with decayed mildew.

“You kept throwing me down the stairs. You kept treating me like I was nothing. What did I do? I put up with it, because that was what my mother did, and her mother, and her mother after that. I didn’t say a word, because that was what was expected of me.”

Cremida Lynne walked up to Winter with spindly, scribbled legs.

“I’m done with being silent.”

Winter didn’t have time to scream. Cremida Lynne grabbed Winter by her neck with her awful, elongated hands. She was face to face with Cremida Lynne’s scratched-off void, framed by snakes of blond hair.

Cremida Lynne’s nails dug into her neck, giving her blurred, spotted, strangled vision.

Cremida Lynne on the carpeted basement stairs, shoeless feet propped up, face only halfway gone. She was tossed aside by Winter in a play date, her head hitting the wall as she fell. Did it hurt her head? Did it make her skull bleed?

Cremida Lynne with scribbles on her body, drawn on by Winter, who so desperately wanted to make her cool with tattoos. Did she even want the tattoos?

There was one time, when Winter was drawing on her, that she could have sworn Cremida Lynne screamed a loud, frantic, helpless scream. A scream that only Winter could hear, no one else. A scream that Winter knew was real, deep down, the way all children knew of the unknown.

Still, Winter laughed. She laughed at Cremida Lynne’s pain. She thought of how funny it was to see people in pain on the videos she watched on the internet, the ones her parents didn’t know about. It was all just a joke and they were too sensitive to truly understand.

“Is this a joke to you?” Cremida Lynne asked, her voice cracking slightly with sobs that wouldn’t come out.

Winter shook her head.

“You don’t mean that. You’re only saying that because you want to live. As soon as I let you go, you’ll forget all about this and keep on ruining me. You won’t stop with me, you’ll go after your friends and family. You’ll ruin everybody.”

Tears welled in Winter’s eyes. For so long, she didn’t know how much hurt someone could feel and didn’t understand why people screamed when it was “all just a game”.

But in that final moment, she knew.

Tale Four-Save the spider

Marjorie smiled at the pile of unwrapped gifts, birthday gifts from her friends and family. October 31st was not only Halloween, but her sixteenth birthday. All of her friends and family worked hard to get her good gifts. They weren’t all things that she wanted, but they were lovely just the same.

“Wait! I have something for you.” Brander said.

Marjorie blushed. Brander was her boyfriend, her sweet, kind boyfriend who was scared out of his mind of Halloween. The ghouls and witches frightened him in a way that was not holiday excitement, but pure, spine-chilling fright.

Still, Brander wanted to take Marjorie to the scariest haunted house attraction in the town of Cherry Brook when he really didn’t have to.

Brander walked up to Marjorie with his hands behind his back, a grin on his face.

“Is it what I think it is?” Marjorie asked, anticipation flooding in her blood. She wanted it for so long, but her family and friends thought that it was “too creepy” and “not appropriate”.

“It is!” Brander said, removing his hands from behind his back.

With his right hand, he was holding a silver cage that kept an elegant, many-legged, velvet black…

“A tarantula? You got me a tarantula?” Marjorie asked.

“Yep!” Brander said, nodding enthusiastically.

“It’s the best gift ever! Thank you so much!” Marjorie beamed.

There was a nervous murmur amongst her loved ones, but Brander and Marjorie paid them no mind.

“You can look at him if you’d like.” Brander said, plopping the cage on Marjorie’s lap.

Of course she would like to look at him! He was her new pet, her new friend!

“I think I’m going to call him Adrial.” Marjorie said, opening the cage.

She stuck her hand in the cage and waited for Adrial to crawl on it. He was shy for a few minutes, but with a bit of soft cooing, he crawled right into her open palm, like an eight-legged fairy.

“I think that we need some fresh air.” Ordelia, Marjorie’s friend, said.

“But it’s so cold outside!” Raina, another friend of Marjorie’s, argued.

Ordelia opened the door anyway, letting in a gush of cold, prickling October air.

Adrial jumped out of Marjorie’s hand and crawled into the outside, where the fallen leaves lay decaying on the streets.

Marjorie sat in the couch, stunned. The spider she always wanted and dreamed of ever since she was a little girl crawled right out of her hands, as though the moment meant nothing. Her spindly legged friend, gone as quickly as he came.

“I’ll find him!” Brander said.

“No, you won’t. It’s okay. He’s just a spider.” Marjorie said softly. The last thing she needed was Brander hopelessly looking for a spider he wouldn’t find.

Everyone else murmured their agreement, but Brander ignored them and said:

“He’s your spider, Marjorie! You deserve to have Adrial with you.”

…………………………………………………….

Marjorie’s boots crunched on the dead leaves as she walked in the woods. She hadn’t found Brander anywhere else in town, but she wouldn’t give up. The others called a search party over, but she couldn’t wait that long.

Somewhere, behind the dusky, misty trees, Brander was getting himself hurt. Somewhere, he was lost and needed to be found. Somewhere-

“Marjorie?” Brander asked shyly from the darkness.

Well, at least she found him alive. All she had to do was bring him back home.

“Brander! You’re here! Come on, let’s go!” Marjorie said, gesturing him to leave. She couldn’t see him in the night darkness, but she was certain that he was there.

“I-I can’t.” Brander stuttered.

Marjorie sighed. He was so kind, too kind for his own good. She didn’t need that spider to be found. It wasn’t worth the risk for him to search for such a delicate creature.

“It’s okay. You got me the spider, which was nice of you, but you don’t need to find it. Now, let’s-“

“It’s not that!” Brander said.

“Oh? What is it, then?” Marjorie asked. She couldn’t see any other reason as to why Brander didn’t want to come home. He deeply feared the woods and what hid there. He wasn’t the outdoorsy person and would leave the woods at the first chance he got.

So why else would he want to stay behind besides looking for Adrial?

“I-I found Adrial, but when I did, there was this strange clap of green light and then…oh goodness, it’s too horrible!” Brander cried out. There was a note of fear in his voice, but it wasn’t the kind that came with Halloween scares and the unblinking woods. It was genuine, true fright. The kind one would feel falling off a cliff with no hope of landing safely or with watching a dying loved one breathe their last breath.

“What’s going on? Talk to me, Brander.” Marjorie said. He didn’t need to be scared, because she was there. Not only was she around, but his family and friends.

There was no reason to be afraid.

“I…I fused with Adrial!” Brander screeched, seeming to choke the words out.

“What?” Marjorie asked. She couldn’t quite believe it. Perhaps the scares of Halloween had gotten into Brander’s head?

“Look at me!” Brander yelled.

Then, he stepped-no, crawled-out of the shadows.

Marjorie’s jaw hung open. Brander was completely normal from the head to his chest, but the bottom of him was the body of a black, many-legged, hairy tarantula. She had never seen anything like it in her life.

Brander crawled back into the shadows as though he never crawled out in the first place.

“I-I don’t understand how it happened. One minute I was holding Adrial, and the next…”

Brander broke off into heaving, childlike sobs. Marjorie’s heart filled with the sorrow of a lost soul. He didn’t deserve to cry, didn’t deserve to be cursed.

“It’s okay, Brander. It’s-“

“It’s not okay! I’m hideous! Just go back home and leave me be, I can’t come out looking like-“

“Brander, you can’t get rid of me easily. I’m going to visit you as much as I can, until one day, when you’re ready, I’ll bring those that care about you to see you-“

“No one can ever see me.”

“They’re going to have to, one day. It won’t be until you’re ready though. They won’t be scared of you if they love you.”

“I’ll marry you one day and we’ll here until the end of our days.”

Marjorie believed the words that were spilling out of her mouth just as she believed that she could walk. Brander had been in her life since preschool, she had never spent an existence without him. He was the light to her life, the flower to her thorns.

He was Brander and he would always be Brander.

“That all sounds too good to be true.” Brander sniffled.

“But it is. I promise.”

“You promise?”

“I promise that I will always love you, no matter what.”

“And I the same to you.”

“May I come closer?”

“Yes.”

Marjorie walked up to Brander, her love, her joy, her heart.

He could never be a monster in her eyes.

Tale Five-Together Forever

Once upon a time, in the dark, cold, biting night of Cherry Brook, 1963, there was a circus called “The shockingly feared land of the macabre” which consisted of teen performers, all taken away from their parents at the tender age of five due to a sort of strangeness about them.

One of the performers was a sixteen year old boy named Blair, who was as tall as a skyscraper. Most people mistaken his height for being stilts, but no, it was his real height. Blair started to grow at the age of three, to the utter fright of his parents. When he was taken away, they did not fight for his return, for who would want a boy like him?

Another performer was a fifteen year old girl named Ameile who was a ballerina that could make her limbs bleed into spiders just by dancing. Spiders spilled out of her body.

Blair watched the families go home, all normal, all happy, all content. He could never be like them, with his horrid height. He was forever alone, destined to stay in the circus.

“Blair, is it?” Amelie asked.

Wait…Amelie?

Blair looked down, just to make sure he wasn’t hearing things.

No, he wasn’t hearing things. Amelie was really talking to him.

“Yes, that’s my name.” He said, puzzled as to why she would want to talk with the likes of him.

“Oh! Great! So I know that it’s you who is getting praised by the audience. I don’t blame them, you are extraordinary.” Amelie said, with pure joy in her voice.

“You…think that I’m extraordinary?” Blair asked, blushing. He had never been called extraordinary before. A freak, yes. But extraordinary? That was new.

“Of course I do! You wow them with a wow I’ve never seen before.” Amelie said earnestly.

“Oh…t-thank you. You’re…you’re wonderful too.” Blair said.

Amelie looked back behind her, as if she were watching for monsters hiding in the dark.

“I know a place where we can be safe.” Amelie whispered.

“Really? We can be safe?” Blair asked. He didn’t think that there was a way out of the circus, with its many twists and turns.

“Yes, I’ve been watching very carefully. Follow me and I’ll take you to safety.”

Blair had never spoken to Amelie before, but he assumed that she was being truthful, for why would she want to lie?

He always dreamed of being free, being loved. Truly loved.

So, he followed close behind Amelie as they walked past the worn tents, the broken trails, the flags raised high, heart pumping in his rib cage.

Finally, after hours of walking, they made it to a forest of bare, reaching trees behind the circus, just waiting to grab them away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” An all too recognizable voice asked.

Blair and Amelie turned around, pure fright in their eyes.

The one and only, the ringleader of the circus, Mrs. Clarice, stood with her hands on her hips, black hair nearly covering her pale face, showing only her large, judging green eye.

“We…we’re tired of this! We just want to live normal lives without being made a mockery!” Amelie yelled.

Though Blair’s voice died within him as soon as he saw Mrs. Clarice, he resonated with every word Amelie said. All the nights he was alone, all the days where people would scream at the sight of him, gave Blair such an overwhelming ache in his heart.

Mrs. Clarice laughed loudly, voice booming throughout the forest.

“You want normal lives? No, no you don’t. Normal lives mean constantly being frightened, no matter the circumstance.” Mrs. Clarice said.

“Everyone dreams of a life of magic. Everyone wants to be either praised or feared, because it means that people will pay attention. It means living the dream. Do you know how many people wish they were like you?”

Blair couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to be like him and Amelie. They were gawked at, abominations upon Earth. Anyone who wanted that was selfish and didn’t know what real suffering was.

“I don’t care. We want to leave, so that’s what we’re doing.” Blair said, for he couldn’t keep quiet for long.

Mrs. Clarice’s face darkened in a way that they had never seen before.

“You think that you are freaks now? I’ll show you what a freak really is.” Mrs. Clarice said.

She raised her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. Blair and Amelie tried to run, but they couldn’t move.

From her lips were the uttered words:

“Contort thy bones to meld together

Boy and girl, they will never sever

Thee girl, reliant on thee boy

Just as things should be, without a question

Stick to thee like a parasite

And never grow old

Never die

Constant agony for girl and boy

Who wished to run from my love”

An invisible force pulled Amelie to Blair, connecting her hip to his hip, melting her legs to his body, so that she stuck out of him, just like a parasite.

Blair had never felt contempt for such a living being until that very moment, when Mrs. Clarice bonded Amelie to him. She had never had to endure what he had. It was something she wasn’t used to, completely different from who she really was.

“There. Now that’ll teach you to mess with me.” Mrs. Clarice said.

She left the two startled adolescents by themselves, her boots crunching on dead leaves.

Amelie looked just about ready to scream from the sheer insanity of it all, but Blair held her close and stroked her hair, comforting her, steadying her heartbeat.

Though conjoined together and definitely a sight that no one would forget, Amelie and Blair never returned to the circus. They were trying to find their way out of the forest, to come back home, even in the state that they were in.

A few hikers had reported seeing a skyscraper clown with a ballerina attached to his body, but who would believe such conspiracies?

Everyone had very interesting imaginations. One had to be careful with what was said…

Tale Six-Forest creatures

Flossie walked through the forest, the moonlight streaming through the trees, her pink princess costume a sharp contrast to her orange pumpkin bucket. It was Halloween night. The rest of her friends were out Trick-or-Treating, but Flossie wanted to see for herself if there really was a naga and a fairy that hid deep in the forest.

Many claimed to have seen them both deep in the woods, eating away at animals and those few humans that deserved to die, but Flossie never quite believed it. They were just stories, just-

Something that sounded like a snake slithered in the leaves, but it was much, much too large for its size. She could hear its tail sliding lazily against the leaves, slinking above the twigs.

But surely, it was all just in her imagination, right?

Only a second passed when she heard the flap of fairy wings above her.

Flossie instinctively ran behind a tree, to hide from whatever lurked in the forest.

…………………………………………………

But still, curiosity tinged her bones. Flossie looked behind the safety of the tree to see for herself.

And immediately wished that she hadn’t.

There was a young girl with long, white hair in a flowing cotton blue dress, hunched over something as if she just attacked it. Her translucent hands had sharpened, clawlike nails that sparkled in the moonlight and dripped with rouge blood. On the girl’s back was delicate, glass-like wings that reflected iridescence.

But what surrounded the fairy was far more of a sight. It was an enormous black snake’s tail that had tints of burgundy in it, larger than what was humanly possible, and it ended at the torso of a young boy, with intense, striking green eyes that seemed to see into the souls of mankind. His black hair brushed the pale, sallow skin on his neck.

Flossie decided that maybe getting a little bit closer wouldn’t be such a bad idea. After all-

Her boot crunched on a twig.

Flossie tried to keep down the panic inside her. Perhaps they didn’t hear it. Perhaps it was so small a sound, it wasn’t noticeable at all.

The fairy and the naga turned whipped their heads towards her.

Flossie had been found.

…………………………………………………

Flossie ran as fast as she could, to the light of her town. She had to run to safety, that was all she had to do. Why did she ever get outside in the first place? What had been going on in her head? A sense of adventure? Adventure was stupid, it would only get her killed.

“Stop running!” An ethereal, yet deathly snake voice commanded.

Flossie stopped, compelled by some urge inside her to do so. Would that moment be her last? A moment of impulsiveness?

She could hear the pitter-patter of fairy wings and the thump of a snake tail behind her. Flossie’s heart beat with dread, waiting for the worst to happen.

The two strange, yet fascinating creatures faced the child, who watched with wide, frightened eyes.

“A-a-are you going t-t-to-“

“Kill you? No. But we do want to know why you came so far.” The fairy said.

They both looked at her expectantly, patiently waiting for her answer. Flecks of blood were on their faces and hands, rubies in web-white stillness.

No one had ever looked at Flossie with such seriousness as they had. Most had a secret laugh in their eyes at what she had to say, as if everything she said were a joke.

Flossie swallowed hard.

“I-I-I w-w-wanted to see you.” She said.

The naga cocked his head.

“See us? That was all?” He asked.

Flossie nodded.

“What is your name, little girl?” The naga asked.

“Flossie. It’s Flossie.” She said softly. Her fear was beginning to slowly fade away. They seemed calm, like they didn’t care that she had come to find them.

“That’s a lovely name. I’m Salem and this is Daisy.” He said. The fairy waved at Flossie. Looking at Daisy’s clawed hands reminded Flossie of her older cousin’s nails. They always got them to be as long as Daisy’s.

“I’m sorry that you had to see us like this. We live to survive. We live to fix the world. A young soul like you doesn’t and shouldn’t understand.” Daisy said.

“Hopefully we never meet again.” Salem said.

Never meet again? But they were so interesting, she wanted to know more about them. She wanted to be their close friend, she wanted to go on adventures, like in the books she read.

“Goodbye, Flossie.” They both said.

The two of them were about to leave, but Flossie called out:

“Wait! Don’t go, I want to stay with you a little longer!”

They turned to look at her with sadness in her eyes, sadness that was great, eternal loneliness.

“You can’t.” Salem said.

And they had left.

Tale Seven-He loves me, he loves me not

In a little house in the town of Cherry Brook lived a family of three. A woman named Tristesse, her husband Shane, and their six year old daughter, Zabrina. They all lived contentedly together, not a care in the world.

At least, that was what everyone thought. Shane and Zabrina made mischief around the house, much to the dismay of Tristesse. Shane was the type of person who would play rather than work and it showed every day, when they both made quite a mess around the house, as though a tornado had struck through.

Tristesse not only took care of the house, but she was often left alone with Zabrina at night. The little girl wouldn’t go to sleep until hours later, when Tristesse had dark, hanging bags of sleep under her eyes. Tristesse knew not what Shane did at night.

One day, Tristesse decided that she had enough. Before Shane was leaving to do whatever he did, Tristesse grabbed his right wrist and asked:

“What’s going on?”

Shane’s eyebrows creased in confusion, as though he didn’t understand her. Upstairs, Zabrina was cackling at a video she found on her computer. Knowing Zabrina, it was probably a clip from a horror movie. Tristesse would prefer if she didn’t watch those things, but Zabrina never listened to her. She only heeded the words of Shane, “The best Daddy in the world!”.

“What do you mean?” Shane asked.

Tristesse almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the question, but stopped herself. She was supposed to be the one with the level head.

“What do I mean? What do I mean? You never take care of Zabrina, you’re off at night doing Heaven knows what, I just want to know, what’s going on?”

Shane sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes darted left and right in a distracted frenzy.

“Are you keeping secrets from me?” Tristesse asked.

“I…I thought that I would never have to tell you, but…but now the time calls for it.” Shane said.

“Back up a bit.” Shane said.

Tristesse did as she was told, an eyebrow raised.

Shane reached into the back of his neck. A sound akin to a zipper being unzipped was made.

Then, his skin fell off, revealing pale skin within. His face had a red, round nose, orange eye shadow surrounding his eyes, and bright, lavender lips.

He was a clown.

Shane reached into his eyes and pulled out the brown eye contacts, showing bright, red demon eyes.

After that, he pulled out his soft, brown hair, letting out green curls that surrounded his face.

“This is what I am, Tristesse. A demon clown. I eat those that deserve to die. Zabrina is the same as me, but she doesn’t know it yet.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I saw how much you loved me as a human, that I decided to keep it a secret. I realize now how wrong I was.”

Tristesse stared at Shane, speechless. All the time they were together and Shane felt unsafe about telling her the truth.

“Shane, I will always love you, but please, make the effort to take care of our daughter. Truly take care of her. I don’t want to leave you, so give me reasons to stay.”

“Of course. Honesty is the key. I’ll be back earlier tonight. I promise.” Shane said.

He walked up to Tristesse and kissed her hand softly.

“I won’t let you down.” Shane said.

Tale Eight-The webbed girl

Ordelia and Raina walked through the forest, the moonlight seeping in. Marjorie disappeared into the forest one Halloween night, one year after Brander ran away, and it was the Halloween night after that when the girls would search for Marjorie.

Only the vast trees and cold wind were present. Raina shivered, for she hated the cold and the outside, but Ordelia trudged on with a purpose. Marjorie had to be found and brought home.

“Marjorie?! Marjorie?! Where are you?!” Ordelia called out. Her own voice echoed back at her.

“We’ve been walking for hours. Let’s just go home and-“

“Go home? You want to give up? But we haven’t even-“

“We’re never going to find her! We didn’t find Brander, what makes you think that we’ll find Marjorie?” Raina asked, tears streaming down her frightened eyes.

“We’ll find Marjorie. I promise.” Ordelia said softly. She didn’t want Raina to cry. They had to be positive and try their best.

“Guys? Is that you?”

They both stopped. They knew that voice well, the voice of a close friend.

“Marjorie?” Ordelia asked. She could hardly believe her luck!

“Don’t turn around. Just run.” Marjorie said.

“Run? Don’t be ridiculous, you’re our friend.” Ordelia said.

“You heard her. We have to run. Come on, Ordelia!” Raina said, tugging on her wrist.

Ordelia let go and turned around, excited to see her friend again. Raina, having no real choice, did the same.

The moonlight reflected Marjorie in a white, cotton skirt. The girls creased their eyebrows. They didn’t remember Marjorie in a skirt.

Ordelia stepped closer to Marjorie, but she backed away.

“Don’t-“

Marjorie’s sentence was cut off as Ordelia grabbed her left wrist. She fell into the twigs, her white skirt ripping apart to reveal pale, limp legs.

Marjorie tried to get up, but slipped as she did so.

“I…I can’t get up. The web was the only thing that could help me move.” Marjorie said.

“The web? What do you mean?” Ordelia asked. She didn’t quite understand, but a new horror was dawning upon Raina’s brain.

Marjorie sighed haggardly, her voice coming out in slight wheezes.

“The dress wasn’t a dress. It was a web.” Marjorie said.

“What do you-“

Ordelia’s jaw dropped. The very sight towering above Marjorie made her cut off her own sentence.

The top part was Brander, but the bottom part was a black, eight-legged tarantula.

“So you’ve come sticking your noses into places you shouldn’t?” Brander asked. His voice was human, save for the faint, but still present, demon note.

“B-B-Brander-“

“Yes, Ordelia?”

If any words were going to come out of Ordelia’s mouth, they died and crumbled away.

She took off running, Raina at the front, Brander chasing after, the unholy sound of many legs skittering on the ground following them.

“You’ve come to take Marjorie away! You’ve come to take her back, to the place that is no good. You’re trying to take her away!” Brander yelled through broken sobs.

“She’s the only one I have left. She’s the only one who stays and you’re trying to take her! I ought to kill you for it!” Brander screeched.

He was getting closer, but the way out was nowhere to be found. There was nothing but trees and leaves surrounding them.

They couldn’t run anymore. They were so…so…tired…to run another mile would be to slip and fall…fall to the ground…

Brander had caught up to them.

“You first, Ordelia.” He said softly.

Ordelia hoped that Raina would run and leave her behind, but no. She took Ordelia’s hand and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

Brander briefly stood up on his hind legs and injected them both with venom in quick shots. They wanted to scream, but couldn’t. Both fell to the ground, too paralyzed to move.

He crawled over to Ordelia and picked her up, so that they were face to face.

His eyes looked so lost…so monstrous…what happened to him?

Brander bit into her neck with sharp, fanged teeth, sucking away her blood.